Indian doctors have rejected claims that an eight-year-old British girl who
died while visiting family in Punjab may have been killed for her organs.

Gurkiren Kaur Loyal from Birmingham had died suddenly after being admitted to a clinic in Khanna, Punjab, near Ludhiana, last month suffering from severe dehydration. Her distraught parents said she had collapsed after receiving an injection and was pronounced dead shortly after being transferred to a nearby hospital.

When her body was returned to Britain, a coroner said he could not determine the cause of death because her internal organs had been removed.

Her mother Amritpal Kaur Loyal said she feared her daughter had been killed for her organs.

She and her daughter had been talking when a member of staff approached with a syringe and injected Gurkiren without explaining what he was doing.

"I asked what was the injection for, but he just looked at me blankly and injected her. Within a split-second Gurkiren's head flipped back, her eyes rolled in her head, and the colour completely drained from her. I knew they had killed her on the spot," she said.

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But doctors and police in India have strongly denied her claims and said Gurkiren had died from a congenital heart 'malformation' and that her organs had been sent to a government forensic laboratory for examination.

Four doctors at the Rajindra Hospital in Patiala were invited to oversee a post-mortem and found that Gurkiren had a history of heart surgery and that her heart was abnormally large.

"The deceased's heart, both the lungs and the whole brain were sent for histopathological examination in the pathology department of the General Medical College and stomach and part of small intestine along with their contents, part of liver, spleen and half of each kidney was sent to the chemical examiner at Kharar for their chemical analysis," said Dr Vijay Sharda, medical superintendent.

Superintendent Bhupinder Singh of Khanna Police said a case of unexplained death had been registered and he was waiting for the doctors' report before deciding whether any crime had been committed.